I just had one of the best weekends of the year, and just as the year is drawing to a close… I spent it with friends, celebrated a living legend, toured historic homes, and was surrounded by holiday music and good cheer. I was never a huge celebrator of the holiday season – not being Christian or celebrating Christmas or Hannukah growing up probably being a huge part, I guess? Diwali only recently became a widely recognized Hindu holiday here in Western cultures, but we weren’t a religious family either. But add music and good friends to bask in the warmth of the holidays, and I’m all fuzzy inside!
I began this weekend watching a documentary about Dick Van Dyke, who celebrated his 100th birthday (courtesy of PBS). Saturday ended with the Atlanta Women’s Chorus holiday concert, A Season of Light. I had attended a concert by their partner organization, Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus, last week, and enjoyed both tremendously! The first few videos are from last Friday’s Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus concert at The Cathedral of St. Philip. Their theme was music from around the world, and included holiday music from Peru, Austria, Ukraine, India, Maori, The Congo, Nigeria, Hawaii, Canada, Wales, and the U.S.
The second set are from Saturday’s Atlanta Women’s Chorus concert with the theme “Season of Light” at The Church at Ponce at Highland.
Sunday, I began by watching Mary Poppins and Chitty Bang Bang for Dick Van Dyke, then headed to another concert, the second of the weekend, and third of the season if you’re keeping count. This one was at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Grant Park, and then we headed out for the 45th Annual Candlelight Tour of Homes.
We began at 522 Hill Street, a Folk Victorian style home with Craftsman touches built in the early 1900s. It has a HUGE front porch, and has been a three-apartment dwelling and is back to being a single-family home again.
The second stop was 381 Cherokee Avenue, was a Victorian cottage built in 1905. If this house looks interesting to you, it is for sale! They have it listed for $875k, which is a bit outside my price range. Just a bit outside, as Bob Uecker said in Major League.
This home has only had four owners, so it is very lucky to have retained much of its original features and charm, such as the four fireplaces, the beautiful spandrel in the entryway, and the breakfast nook, whose doorway was widened.
Next stop? 532 Boulevard, another Victorian, this one built in 1896. With five fireplaces in the house, we managed to stay warm on this super chilly night! One of the homeowners is an artist, and her art could be found throughout the home.
The home is also home to a taxidermied squirrel which lives in a glassed-in porch built just for the squirrel. The squirrel apparently fell out of a tree when it was a baby, and when it came to be an adult, the previous owners built the glassed-in porch so it had a place to live.
The next home on the tour was 619 Killian, which was built as a two-story mult-family home in 1916. It felt very much like a New Orleans, Creole style home with its giant balcony and separate entrance for the upstairs apartment.
While it is now a single family home with gigantic bedrooms on the second floor, the original home was built with a separate entrance on the left side for the second-floor apartment, and over time, it housed anywhere from two to four-room apartments. The letter that was blown up and framed as a print also sent me down a rabbit hole to learn more about the Robert Fulton Hotel.
The last house we toured before our refreshment stop at my friend Sarah’s house was 585 Boulevard. This Folk Victorian was built in 1904, and is attached to the storefront which was the Miss Georgia Dairies ice cream store and Georgia Milk Producers where dairy farmers could drop off milk.
The current homeowners use the retail space as a home office/studio, and another bedroom for one of their children. The item that was most interesting to me was the family tree which was done in a circular style. I definitely need to try this with mine, given that both of my parents had four siblings, and I often run out of room with the extended families.
After a refreshment stop at my friend Sarah’s house – wine and an assortment of treats like wraps, deviled eggs and gingerbread macarons – we ended at 620 Home Avenue, a 1935 Tudor brick, which you don’t usually find in Grant Park. This feels like a home I would have seen in Five Points in Athens.
We spoke to the homeowners for quite awhile because we had so many questions! First of all, the homeowners thought the home design came from a planbook because they saw very similar houses in other parts of Atlanta. We thought maybe it was a Leila Ross Wilburn design because she had several planbooks. The homeowners had never heard her name, so we gave them a quick history and where her homes and apartment buildings could be found. The front porch which is glassed-in, definitely felt like a Wilburn touch.
The owners had been in the home for just over a decade, and completed a massive addition in 2018, but you wouldn’t know it was an addition by looking at the outside, with touches like matching brick, and intricate designs in the brick you don’t find in many modern homes.
As always, we had a wonderful time touring the homes, and loved the conversations that we had with other visitors, the volunteers, and even a homeowner or two!
And… the holidays are far from over – another holiday concert to attend on Tuesday, and a the Atlanta Freedom Band performance next Saturday. Let’s continue the festive fun!
Sravanthi Meka 